Rarest officially released NES game being sold on eBay, already over $90,000

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There are a handful of game cartridges for the Nintendo Entertainment System that are much sought after. Often these are limited run units produced for tournaments or special prizes which were never officially sold. If you want to stick to true Nintendo canon, the rarest official game is Bandai’s Family Fitness Stadium Events. A copy of this title still in its original packaging is on sale through eBay, and the bidding is already over $90,000.

Stadium Events was an early test title released in limited quantities by Bandai in 1987 to work with its Family Fun Fitness Control Mat. However, Nintendo licensed the technology for itself in North America and bundled it with future versions of the NES. You may know it as the Power Pad — that thing on which you could run in place and look ridiculous. After it acquired the technology, Nintendo had all copies of Stadium Events recalled.

Only 2000 copies of this game were ever made, and 200 of them reached store shelves. It is not known how many were actually sold, but it was probably only a handful. Only two copies are known to exist still sealed in the original packaging, including the one that just hit eBay. The seller claims he once worked at Nintendo, and was presumably aware of the rarity of this cartridge when he purchased it in the early 90s.

The lucky buyer of this cart isn’t going to play it, at least I would hope. It’s sealed in a clear acrylic case, and even if it was removed from the packaging, you’d probably have to crack open the cartridge to replace the ancient battery. The auction will conclude next week, by which time the price will probably be higher still.